The Defense Ministry began work Monday on relaxing rules for the use of arms by Self-Defense Forces troops after the approval of national security laws in the Diet earlier this month. As the new laws enable Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense ...

The leaders of six opposition parties Friday agreed to form a united front in trying to prevent the ruling camp bulldozing two contentious security bills into law. The government and the ruling bloc, which comprises the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, are aiming to ...

Lawmakers are due to continue debating two contentious security bills until mid-September, comprising some of the most controversial government-sponsored legislation to reach the Diet in recent years. But the bills are considered difficult to understand, and media polls indicate a majority of voters feel ...

When Shintaro Ishihara retired from politics after failing to get re-elected last December, it seemed we wouldn’t have the right-wing firebrand to kick around any more, but last week there he was in Shukan Asahi talking to former Liberal Democratic Party comrade Shizuka Kamei ...

The USS Michigan is an 18,000-ton demonstration of deepening U.S.-Japan military ties against the backdrop of an increasingly muscular China. Equipped with about 150 Tomahawk cruise missiles, the 170-meter nuclear-powered submarine glided into the port of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, earlier this month. The floating ...

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party plans to submit a bill to the Diet aimed at keeping remote islands near borders inhabited as China becomes increasingly assertive on the high seas, party officials said Friday. The LDP’s panels on disputed islands and the economic promotion ...

The government decided on Friday to deliver 20,000 protective suits to West Africa via the Air Self-Defense Force next week, part of a donation of 700,000 suits to help Ebola-hit countries in the region. The delivery will mark the first time an SDF plane ...

Japan stepped up its role in large-scale war games with the United States this week, with one of its admirals commanding air and sea maneuvers that the U.S. military described as the most complex ever overseen by the Maritime Self-Defense Force. The Keen Sword ...